Legion
by RandomFlame
Summary: In which the events in the Valley of the End play out in such way as I hope will leave a mood like a raining day.
1. When they come that shall lay me in the

When they come that shall lay me in the earth

* * *

He lies in the center, an aureole of light rising up around him like flame. High in the shadows stand ten dark figures, hands a seal of concentration. Each seems to be vibrating, emitting sound just below the threshold of sound. They resonate, low tones contrasting and combining like as to shake a tooth loose from its' mooring.

The boy in the center, focus, shakes. His bones hum with their intent. He is loose, muscles lax with illusion and mind swimming with drugs. The light dances over his skin like tide, ebb and swell to the notes, casting eerie shadows to flicker upward and over his captors. They are watching him, gauging the reaction to their efforts

He isn't watching them.

His eyes are closed, head twisted to the east. The faintest of furrows is between his brows, all his unresponding body can manage. The wrinkle grows deeper as the hum intensifies, his left hand moves slightly. The light gathers, concentrates near his belly, driven from his head and limbs and torso, starts to gutter-

His eyes fly open.

The light flares, spreads back to cover him completely in less time than a thought. His faces smoothes, eyes drifting shut again; nothing more in his sight than the daze they've given him. They still watch him, as they have for the past three days.

Every time he forces them back, it takes less effort for them to wear him down.

They have all the time they need.

* * *

Far and far off, a young man frowns. His chopsticks still in mid-swoop. His teammates, sitting to either side of him pause in shock.

They've never seen Naruto distracted from his ramen for anything less than a full-scale attack, sometimes not even then.

"Naruto," says the girl, lays a hand on his shoulder. She leans towards him.

Naruto tilts his head to the left, eyes focused somewhere beyond the restaurant wall. He leans back to her without really noticing, unconsciously mimicking her body language, lowers his bowl.

He vanishes in a cloud of smoke. The bowl, still a good four inches above the table falls and bounces to the floor with a tremendous crash. The steaming broth flies near in all directions, the bowl itself miraculously unharmed.

The chopsticks are in splinters.


	2. Now the wand and sceptre of the bone

Now the wand and sceptre of the bone

* * *

The storm, kicked up so suddenly, is already clearing. Kakashi moves through the trees, each motion as efficient as possible, no thought spared for his usual grace. He is following the faint track his students left behind them: a scuffed branch, a bent leaf, a dark hair caught about a twig.

The rain slows him, sudden cloudburst erasing the signs of their passing. Just as he near loses the trail, his eyes focus. Directly ahead is a moving patch of orange.

It takes only ninety-odd seconds for him to land by the four figures. Three of them are Naruto, not a scratch marring their skin. Kakashi had felt the beast's energy, knows from their mission at the bridge just how little time it takes, on occasion, for Naruto to heal. He sees Naruto's clothes in tatters.

The fourth figure is Sasuke, unconscious on the center Naruto's back. He shows the full measure of their encounter- his fingers are burned, bruises showing already dark against his neck and shins. His left arm is obviously broken, both legs less obviously broken, and from the limp dangling of that arm, Kakashi suspects his right shoulder is dislocated. A chunk of hair just behind his left ear is hanging ragged, torn near completely free of his scalp. The blood is soaked all down the side of his shirt, still wet.

The Naruto nearest Kakashi lowers his _kunai_. He nods slightly and the Naruto in the center immediately comes forward, shrugging Sasuke off his back. He drops into Kakashi's arms. The third Naruto is facing away, towards the border with Rice Field Country. His _kunai_ is ready in his hand.

All three Naruto are tense, Kakashi notices. Once free of Sasuke, that Naruto reached back for a fistful of _shuriken_. The first Naruto has his _kunai_ loosely gripped near his hip, textbook perfect position to throw. He can't sense any pursuit, none of Orochimaru's minions approaching, but takes his cue from his student.

They head for the village with no delay. As times passes and they come across their comrades, Naruto relaxes inch by inch. It's odd for Kakashi to see his student unwind in three different fashions. The first Naruto lets his _kunai_ drop to his thigh, the second Naruto loses the tension in his shoulders, and the third lets his gaze stray to his teammate.

As they meet Gaara just before the gates, the Naruto veers off to speak with him. The third gestures, concentrates for a scant second, and a fourth Naruto seamlessly fills the empty spot. Not a one of them so much as blinks.

In some corner of Kakashi's mind, so distant he can't quite put his finger on it, that chills him to the marrow.


	3. Has fleshed animals I never saw

Has fleshed animals I never saw

* * *

"And then," Naruto crows, "then the rice cooker exploded!"

There's a muffled thump, and Naruto lowers his chopsticks from their triumphant flourish at the ceiling to point at the floor. "What are you doing down there?"

In point of fact, Kiba fell off the stool from laughing too hard. He doesn't even try to answer, just snorts into the floor and waves his hand weakly in the direction of their companion.

"Shut up," she says, and punches Naruto. By this point in the story, her face is darker than her hair.

"Ow, Sakura!" Naruto sets down her order with a thump. "I'm not the one who said anything. You're lucky I figured out how to make doppelgangers last, or you'd be covered in ramen." He rubs his arm and pouts, but goes off with no complaints when Ichiraku call him.

"He's right, you know." Naruto's blue eyes bore into her own. "That's the first he's been out the kitchen all evening."

Sakura flushes a tad darker, angry embarrassment making her lower her eyes. "It doesn't matter. One of you is the same as-"

With a squawk she's pulled to the floor next to Kiba. He lets go of her ankle and leans up, kissing her startled mouth and presses her down to lay spread out beneath him.

"Love you," he murmurs. Sakura gasps and her arms come up around his neck. "That was the best day of my life you were re-assigned to my team." He gives a lazy roll of his hips. "My gorgeous, gorgeous girl."

"Ew, you guys! Don't get me kicked out of the ramen shop of my dreams!"


	4. Who then waking in the prayers of flame

Who then waking in the prayers of flame

* * *

He hurts.

* * *

When first he opens his eyes he sees nothing.

One blink, a second, and the ceiling swims dizzyingly above him, stretching and warping in time with the marching that has taken up residence in his skull.

The boy groans, raises one arm and manages to shift himself over to lie on his side. He retches, stomach writhing but nothing comes out. His stomach is full and overfull, grossly swollen, but his fingers find his abdomen flatter than ever he recalls.

When was the last time he ate?

A thousand memories of a thousand meals leap in his thoughts. Dinner with his team mates, hastily snatched ramen between shifts at Ichiraku, dry trail rations on the way to a rendezvous with the Sand-

It passes over him like a wave, and he drowns. Hours later, or what seems like hours, his mind surfaces, heavy with the life he hasn't lived.

There's a certain something to the shape of a clone's memory- A sensation of energy dancing just beneath skin, fire tricked into solid flesh just barely holding stable. That unmistakable flavor tinges all of his waking memories for the past three years.

He retches again, curling into a feeble ball of flesh around the agony that is his stomach. He pants, eyes closed against the bright flashes of pain lancing across his vision, sweat beading on his forehead. He can't process, the automatic indexing and collating of his multiple points-of-view broken by the amount of information he's taken in, by the drugs not yet burned from his body, from the illusions that have kept his eyes closed since his body reached past the breaking point all those years ago.

The last true thing he knows is the dying of summer, a chase, a storm. A wind rising from the east and a sound like the chirping of a thousand different birds. A valley, betrayal, a fight-

An end.


	5. Tick, and water dropping from the heart

Tick, and water dropping from the heart

* * *

_It's chill; and he's on his back. Rough stone-_

Naruto jerks awake, shivering. He's on his side, pressed tight against the warmth of his brothers. His fellow clones are sleeping still, untroubled by dreams. Their breaths are deep and even, marked contrast to his own harsh pants.

Breath, along with his own heart beating, is all he can hear, not even birds wake or sing before false dawn. Judging by the stars, true dawn is still hours away. His teammates, too, are yet asleep, like the birds and his brothers. Their breath is a soothingly regular lullaby.

Sasuke had always snored.

Slowly he slips back into sleep and when he wakes again the sun is high in the sky. His team is in no great rush. One of his brothers is shouting, he can't tell which. He blinks, still sleepy, and sits up to see Ino on the warpath.

She's bleeding.

All of a sudden, Naruto is wide awake. His face tenses as he scans the clearing. Aside from one clone somehow sleeping through the din, and the unfortunate target of Ino's rage, none of his other selves are about. His brother yelps, dodges between the two tents- one for their instructor and one for the girls- to avoid a _shuriken_, and Naruto relaxes.

_Shuriken_, at least the small, common _shuriken_ Ino's thrown, are relatively harmless, used mostly for distraction. Whatever's happened must not have been serious. A white splotch appears on the ground by his hand, and Naruto recoils, yanking his hand to his chest. He glances up, trying to find the bird- if he can catch it, to find breakfast- and there's a flash of orange through the leaves. Naruto grins.

"There you are," he says, looking over the five clones crouched in the linden tree. He can't place the first, nor the second, but the third-

_One breath, another. Dodge left to avoid the _kunai_. Drop into a forward roll and duck under the return swing of the _kusari-gama_, come up with fingers crossed in front of his chest as he summons his third set of clones. The second on the left-_

The third clone is from the spar he'd had with Tenten three days ago. The fourth-

"_Naruto."_

_Ayame and Naruto both look up. A _chuunin_ is leaning in, one hand holding the shop curtain away from his face. His hair is brown, and his eyes, like most of the folk of the leaf. Naruto doesn't recognize him._

"_You're wanted by the _Godaime_," the _chuunin_ says, and fails to leave._

_Naruto scrunches his face up in annoyance, it's not as if he'd get lost on the way to the tower, but stands. "Sorry, Ayame," Naruto starts, then grins. He brings his hands up to cross in front of his chest and-_

"_So, about that recipe," says Naruto, happily perched on the stool he'd just vacated._

"_Let's go," says Naruto, striding past the _chuunin_. His escort follows him all the way to Tsunade's office._

The fourth talked with Ayame for hours before the shop got busy and he'd had to leave. He doesn't know the fifth. There's a flutter of brown wings. Naruto stretches out a mental hand-

"Dispel."

The third clone vanishes, and Naruto blinks. His brother had tripped, he remembers seeing as he refilled the canteens. Tripped while practicing his aim. The _shuriken_, one of the big _fuuma shuriken_, had flown wide, nearly hitting Ino. Startled, she'd dodged badly, crashing directly through a thicket of wild rose and falling into the stream. She'd been scratched.

Her arm warmers were ruined.

From out of sight comes the distant sound of a splash as Ino's vengeance is realized. Naruto hums idly and his fourth brother reaches out to grab the nuthatch which had almost gotten Naruto earlier. It's a plump specimen, well fed, so he snaps its neck and jumps down. He heads over the ridge to where Shizune is giving Tenten practical anatomy lessons, butchering and cleaning breakfast.


	6. In the black wood, or the name of the

In the black wood, or the name of the heart

* * *

The afternoon is lazy, windless, and the perpetual summer of Fire Country is a pall hanging over the landscape, heat settling like a shroud. In the shade of the plum trees that grow at the base of the tower lies a boy, asleep. He's on his side, curled up with his knees to his chin and his head on a moss-covered root.

Uzumaki Naruto is napping, but not for long.

The leaves rustle above him and twin pairs of eyes peer from the foliage, identical faces grinning down at their brother. Naruto shifts but does not wake. They smirk, smiles edging just that much wider, that much sharper. Strong teeth stand out pale against skin dark from the sun. The basket they hold between them is waterproof, wax over wicker, and full to the brim. They tilt it, ever so slightly.

"Gah!"

Naruto bolts upright, drenched. He's as furious as a scalded cat, water dripping from his nose and ears and fingers and hair, collecting in a pool at his feet. The clones break into guffaws. For a hundred heartbeats, the scene holds: Naruto glaring up at his other selves, hands clenched, and them in the throes of laughter. One is doubled over, basket held tight to his chest, the other barely supporting himself with the trunk of the tree, tears of mirth in their eyes.

An unkindness of ravens take off from other side of the grove, making their raucous way away through the first shadows of twilight, strong wings buffeting leaves loose from the trees. When the last leaf settles to the ground all three clones are gone.

When he was still in the academy, Naruto spent most of his spare time dodging the many _chuunin_ set to discipline him for his mischief. Naruto had gotten very good at losing pursuit, but unfortunately for his other selves, Naruto is the one doing the chasing this time. He knows all of their short-cuts, all the hiding places in this part of the village, every tactic they'll use.

The chase is epic, at least by Naruto's standards. They race through the trees, up and down across the sides of the tower, lay traps and false trails, bluff and double bluff. In a few hours it winds down, Naruto's sodden fury giving way to his sheer joy in life and the feel of the wind against his face. They end up back in the plum trees, now numbering five. Not from summoning, for they've learned the peril of clones making clones, but they've been joined by their brothers who'd speaking with Tsunade and Ayame.

"Shizune," says a Naruto, biting into a plum, and lets the juice run down his chin and drip to the grass below. "Huh." He has a leaf in one hand.

"Shizune's nice!" crows another Naruto, slurping at one of the two bowls of ramen Ayame had sent with him.

"Ino," contributes the Naruto who finished the other bowl. He leans out precariously to snag a plum. A chorus of groans breaks out and the first Naruto waves his leaf in irritation.

Sakura-_chan_ is better." He scowls. "Shikamaru said Ino's terrible." He brings the leaf to his forehead and grins when it stays as he lets go.

"Shikamaru says everyone's terrible."

"Shikamaru thinks we're terrible, too."

The third clone and the fourth both pause, looking at each other, then the fourth continues. "Who's Tenten?" The first uses his teeth to scrape the last bit of flesh from the stone of the plum, and tosses it carelessly to the left.

The second Naruto scrunches up his face. "I think she's the girl I saw visiting Neji in the hospital."

"Oh," the third Naruto sits down, plum in one hand. "I remember her. The one Gaara's sister beat."

"Didn't she visit Lee, too?" The second uses one chopstick to prod at the fifth, sleeping on his lap. "Oi."

The fifth only frowns in his sleep. The first snickers, one hand covering his mouth and the second glares at him. The third reaches over and pinches his sleeping brother who wakes instantly, shooting up and slamming his head against the second's bowl. The second curses, jumps up, hot broth slopped all down his front and the fifth falls and vanishes, impact with the ground enough to make him dispel.

_He can smell oil. There's a slight sputtering, light flickering over his closed eyes. Oil lamps, then, and the air is still, no drafts save the tiny ones caused by the flames in the lamps._

_He's underground._

"Waste of good ramen," says the fourth.

The first cocks his head. "He had that dream, too."


End file.
